NAME

       cfdisk - display or manipulate a disk partition table

SYNOPSIS

       cfdisk [options] [device]

DESCRIPTION

       cfdisk is a curses-based program for partitioning any block device.  The default device is
       /dev/sda.

       Note that cfdisk provides basic partitioning functionality with a user-friendly interface.
       If you need advanced features, use fdisk(8) instead.

       Since  version 2.25 cfdisk supports MBR (DOS), GPT, SUN and SGI disk labels, but no longer
       provides any functionality for CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) addressing.  CHS has never  been
       important for Linux, and this addressing concept does not make any sense for new devices.

       Since  version  2.25  cfdisk  also  does  not  provide  a  'print' command any more.  This
       functionality is provided by the utilities partx(8) and lsblk(8) in a very comfortable and
       rich way.

       If you want to remove an old partition table from a device, use wipefs(8).

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

       -L, --color[=when]
              Colorize  the output.  The optional argument when can be auto, never or always.  If
              the when argument is omitted, it defaults to auto.  The colors can be disabled, for
              the current built-in default see --help output. See also the COLORS section.

       -V, --version
              Display version information and exit.

       -z, --zero
              Start  with  an  in-memory  zeroed  partition table.  This option does not zero the
              partition table on the disk; rather, it simply starts the program  without  reading
              the  existing  partition  table.   This option allows you to create a new partition
              table from scratch or from an sfdisk-compatible script.

COMMANDS

       The commands for cfdisk can be entered by pressing the corresponding key  (pressing  Enter
       after the command is not necessary).  Here is a list of the available commands:

       b      Toggle the bootable flag of the current partition.  This allows you to select which
              primary partition is bootable on the drive.  This command may not be available  for
              all partition label types.

       d      Delete  the  current  partition.  This will convert the current partition into free
              space and merge  it  with  any  free  space  immediately  surrounding  the  current
              partition.   A  partition already marked as free space or marked as unusable cannot
              be deleted.

       h      Show the help screen.

       n      Create a new partition from free space.  cfdisk then prompts you for  the  size  of
              the  partition  you  want  to  create.   The  default  size  is equal to the entire
              available free space at the current position.

              The size may be followed by a multiplicative suffix: KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024*1024),
              and  so  on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB, ZiB and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g. "K" has
              the same meaning as "KiB").

       q      Quit the program.  This will exit the program without writing any data to the disk.

       s      Sort the partitions in ascending start-sector  order.   When  deleting  and  adding
              partitions,  it is likely that the numbering of the partitions will no longer match
              their order on the disk.  This command restores that match.

       t      Change the partition type.   By  default,  new  partitions  are  created  as  Linux
              partitions.

       u      Dump the current in-memory partition table to an sfdisk-compatible script file.

              The  script  files  are compatible between cfdisk, fdisk, sfdisk and other libfdisk
              applications.  For more details see sfdisk(8).

              It is also possible to load an sfdisk-script into cfdisk if there is  no  partition
              table on the device or when you start cfdisk with the --zero command-line option.

       W      Write  the  partition  table  to  disk (you must enter an uppercase W).  Since this
              might destroy data on the disk, you must  either  confirm  or  deny  the  write  by
              entering  `yes' or `no'.  If you enter `yes', cfdisk will write the partition table
              to disk and then tell the kernel to re-read the partition table from the disk.

              The re-reading of the partition table does not always work.  In  such  a  case  you
              need  to  inform  the  kernel  about  any  new  partitions by using partprobe(8) or
              partx(8), or by rebooting the system.

       x      Toggle extra information about a partition.

       Up Arrow, Down Arrow
              Move the cursor to the previous or next partition.  If there  are  more  partitions
              than  can  be  displayed  on  a  screen, you can display the next (previous) set of
              partitions by moving down (up) at the  last  (first)  partition  displayed  on  the
              screen.

       Left Arrow, Right Arrow
              Select  the  preceding  or  the  next  menu  item.   Hitting Enter will execute the
              currently selected item.

       All commands can be entered with either uppercase or lowercase letters (except for Write).
       When in a submenu or at a prompt, you can hit the Esc key to return to the main menu.

COLORS

       Implicit   coloring   can   be   disabled   by  creating  the  empty  file  /etc/terminal-
       colors.d/cfdisk.disable.

       See terminal-colors.d(5) for more details about colorization configuration.

       cfdisk does not support color customization with a color-scheme file.

ENVIRONMENT

       CFDISK_DEBUG=all
              enables cfdisk debug output.

       LIBFDISK_DEBUG=all
              enables libfdisk debug output.

       LIBBLKID_DEBUG=all
              enables libblkid debug output.

       LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG=all
              enables libsmartcols debug output.

       LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG_PADDING=on
              use visible padding characters. Requires enabled LIBSMARTCOLS_DEBUG.

SEE ALSO

       fdisk(8), parted(8), partprobe(8), partx(8), sfdisk(8)

AUTHOR

       Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>

       The current cfdisk implementation is based on the original cfdisk  from  Kevin  E.  Martin
       (martin@cs.unc.edu).

AVAILABILITY

       The   cfdisk   command   is   part  of  the  util-linux  package  and  is  available  from
       https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.